This invention relates to an underjet-type and regeneratively-operated battery of coke ovens, and more particularly to a pipeline system for the periodic dispensing of compressed air toward gas dispensing nozzles located within the relatively cool part of distribution pipes for rich gas within a cellar below such a battery of coke ovens.
The regenerators for an underjet-type of battery of coke ovens have vertical passageways extending through the walls of the regenerators and from which burners extend into the heating flues. A row of these heating flues extends between adjacent coke oven chambers for supplying heat thereto by the combustion of rich gas in the same regenerative half-cycle or portion thereof. For this purpose, the burners in the heating flues are connected to rich gas distribution lines which extend parallel to the row of heating flues from a cellar located below the regenerators. The quantity of gas supplied to each burner is accurately dispensed by a nozzle located in a readily accessible portion or a branch line connected in the cellar to the distribution line for rich gas. Each nozzle, in addition to being readily accessible, is located in the cellar where the gas conducting lines are relatively cool.
As is known, the aforementioned nozzles function as control elements and they are replaceable in the gas lines. Each nozzle has a gas conducting opening which is considerably decreased as to its size in relation to the gas conducting space in the pipeline. Most gases conducted by such a pipeline system for combustion in the heating flues contain ingredients which have a marked tendency to condense or separate out at normal ambient temperatures. The nozzles are particularly susceptible to an accumulation of condensed or separated ingredients of the rich gas. The nozzles, therefore, must be cleaned periodically because even a partial clogging of the nozzles may drastically impair the correct distribution of gases to the various burners in the heating flues.
To clean these nozzles in the past, it has been necessary to open the gas line by removing a closure-like cover and then either the nozzle must be removed for cleaning and replacement, or the nozzle is left in place and a cleaning tool is inserted into the nozzle. This method of cleaning the nozzles has the acute disadvantage of requiring the opening of the gas line. Moreover, considerable labor costs are incurred to periodically clean all the nozzles for a battery of coke ovens where there are a large number of burners and a nozzle associated with each such burner.
To alleviate the manual cleaning process, it has been proposed to arrange a facility opposite each nozzle for blowing compressed air or some other inert gas toward the nozzle. The facility is arranged substantially along the nozzle axis and opens toward the nozzle. After an associated distribution line is turned ON to feed gas through the line, the facility is operated briefly to clean the nozzle. An example of such a nozzle cleaning facility is disclosed in West German Pat. No. 1,601,284. While this prior art form of cleaning facility has advantages, the present invention is addressed to an improved system for cleaning the nozzles in branch lines from gas feed lines extending from a cellar into the heating flues for a battery of coke oven chambers.